


Mint

by anxiousdyke



Series: Wolfstar oneshots to make me feel better [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Remus Lupin, Crush, Gay Sirius Black, Gayness, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Secret Crush, Wolfstar Big Bang 2019, i love them, somebody hug remus lupin, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 05:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19041877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxiousdyke/pseuds/anxiousdyke
Summary: Slughorn used to make Amortentia for the first class long before Harry Potter came to Hogwarts.





	Mint

Remus Lupin was never late. Not only in his Hogwart's career, but in the life before, too. When he used to live with his parents, they had a very specific day plan and Remus was never late to any meal. He had never missed a bus, never been late to a meeting, he just always cared about being everywhere on time.

Which is why he was so pissed off that one morning, second day of his sixth year of Hogwarts, as he was running to his first potions lesson. He knew damn well professor Slughorn doesn't care much about his students being late, but that wasn't about what the professor was going to think, it was about what Remus was going to think. Being late is being lazy, and he certainly wasn't lazy.

The real question was, why didn't any of his friends wake him up. He was going to have a serious conversation with them, but later.

Once he reached the potions classroom, he was covered in sweat and only a few minutes late. His heart was beating like crazy and he could hear professor Slughorn's voice through the doors. He breathed deeply a few times to calm himself down and knocked on the wooden doors.

"Yes?" He heard voice of the old professor and he came in, immediately exchanging looks with James, who looked rather amused. "Oh, mister Lupin. Come in."

"Sorry for being late, I-"

"Just sit," Slughorn said with a smile, but he didn't like being interrupted and Remus knew that, which was why his anxiety was acting out hard in that moment. He took his usual place between Sirius and Peter and looked at Sirius, who winked at him.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he whispered, but Sirius covered his mouth with pointing finger, telling him to shut up. Remus just rolled his eyes - Sirius certainly wasn't the right person to shush him. Last year Griffindor lost probably like fifty points alone just for Sirius talking to Remus on lessons.

"As I was saying before mister Lupin chose to show up for class," Slughorn continued, uncovering two pots with steaming potions. One of them let out a big cloud of purple smoke and strong smell of flowers hit everyone's noses. "For today's lesson I have prepared two strong elixirs. The left one is Draught of Peace, that you are going to try to recreate in today's class. The right one, however, is way more complicated to make, and thanks Merlin, because it may look innocent, but is incredibly dangerous," Slughorn waved his hand above the other pot and smelled the smoke. "I made it as a little experiment. It's called Amortentia. Anyone knows what it is?"

Some Hufflepuff girl raised her hand. "It's the strongest love potion."

"Five points to Hufflepuff," Slughorn smiled to her. "Indeed, it is. But what's interesting about it is that it smells differently for everyone. Amortentia's smoke can smell of anything that the person smelling associates with their love interest. For example," he sniffed the elixir. "for me, it smells like coffee and applepie. Mr. Lupin!"

Remus felt like somebody woke him up from a dream. He knew exactly what Amortentia was, he'd read about it before, so he wasn't really paying attention to whatever Slughorn was telling - he already started leafing through his book to find the recipe for Draught of Peace. Sirius kicked him in the leg when Slughorn said his name.

"Yes?" Remus answered and his friends giggled.

"What is it with you, Moony," James whispered teasingly, but Lily was watching Remus warningly. "Having troubles focusing?"

"Since you were late today, you're the first one to participate in our little experiment," Slughorn said and waved at Remus. "Come here, boy. Tell us what you smell. Just don't lie! We'll know if you do!"

Remus slowly stood up from his chair and, sighing deeply, came closer to the pots. He had a hinch about how Amortentia might smell to him. He had a feeling it would smell like Sirius. His heart started beating fastly as he realized that and he felt his guts somewhere under his throat. Bloody hell, he shouldn't have come to that class at all, and now everybody was watching him, and his heart was beating twice as hard as it would normally.

Lily was watching him warningly from her chair next to James. She knew exactly what he was thinking as he had told her about his little crush on Sirius a few weeks ago. His eyes caught hers and she nodded a little without breaking the eye contact, letting him know that he should be honest with what he feels. However, she knew a little more than he did. She knew Sirius was smitten about Remus too, because James had told her, and he knew from Sirius himself. Therefore, that little Amortentia experiment made her pretty excited for Remus - if he'd be honest, Sirius might get the allusion.

Remus stepped slowly into the smoke of Amortentia, and he immediately started coughing, which made his classmates explode with laughter. It was the worst combination of smells his poor nostrils had ever experienced. The love potion to him smelled like Padfoot's fur after a storm, like when Remus just transformed from his werewolf form and Sirius was still a dog. Besides the strong smell of wet dog's fur, he also felt leather, like a leather jacket, and a strong smell of mint. Remus  immediately remembered that Sirius washes his long hair in mint shampoo.

Shit, he really was smitten.

"So, mister Lupin?" Slughorn smiled to him encouragingly. "What do you smell? Maybe today's lesson will help you resolve some heart issues, I hope, so you'll be able to focus again!"

Remus' cheeks turned pink.

"I feel... mint and leather," he said slowly, watching Sirius' face as he was speaking. He didn't know what his courage to say the next thing was coming from, but he just took a deep breath and said it. "and also a wet dog."

Sirius dropped his pen and Remus tried not to look at him. Slughorn laughed, like if he told something funny.

"Wet dog, I have never heard that before!" he clapped his hands in amusement. "Now, which one of you ladies keeps a dog in your dormitory?"

A quiet giggle was heard in the classroom and embarassed Remus was permitted to sit back down. Before he reached his place, he exchanged looks with Sirius and, what surprised Remus - he was grinning. He winked to Remus and he smiled weakly, too, but his heart was still racing, he wasn't entirely aware of what he just admitted.

 

* * *

 

"Remus!" Lily yelled after him as he left the classroom in a rush almost an hour later, but he just kept going, aware that he had to explain himself to everyone now. He had been avoiding Sirius' eyes for the last forty minutes and failing miserably, because Sirius seemed to be trying to do the exact opposite - Remus thought he really wanted to make an eye contact. He even wrote something on the edge of Remus' potions book, but Remus pretended he was too involved in his Draught of Peace and didn't even read that. He took a place with his pot in the corner of the classroom, far from his friends, but he felt their eyes on him.

He couldn't really explain why was he acting this way, because Sirius certainly didn't look like he was mad at him, or even half as embarassed as Remus was. The good side of this, though, was that Remus focused very hard on his potion, trying to forget about what had just happened, and he accidentally made the best work in class. Slughorn gave Griffindor ten points for that.

"Remus, wait," Lily caught his elbow, forcing him to stop. He looked at her finally, red spots all over his face and ears. "Why are you running, it's-"

"Embarassing," Remus ended, rolling his eyes. "It is embarassing, Lily. I don't want to talk to Sirius ever again."

"You don't know what Sirius said because you ran away immediately, is what I'm trying to say!" She seemed somehow annoyed with him, and it made him angry. She knew how insecure he was about that matter!

"I'm not sure I want to know."

"I assure you, you do," she knew whenever Remus was abashed he tried to lose eye contact, so she didn't let him. "He spent the entire class talking to James. I overheard, and he seemed very excited."

"Excited, or laughing at me?" Remus muttered back. "I'm not-"

"No, Remus, you don't get it," Lily rolled her eyes - she seemed to be fighting with the urge to do that for some time. "Before you freak out, maybe you should hear me out, because apparently you're both blind. James told me that Sirius is mad about you!"

If Remus was holding something, he would drop it in shock. He looked at Lily with a mix of disbelief and suspicious. "He is?"

"I wasn't supposed to tell you this," Lily nodded with a smile. "But James says what when you're not with them, Sirius can't stop talking about you. James says it's incredibly annoying, really, but it's the truth."

Remus just raised his eyebrows. No, it couldn't be. Lily had to be joking for some reason, he didn't know why yet, but she had to be. It's impossible that Sirius liked him, too. They were friends for five years, Remus would know, right?

"You're both idiots," Lily added. "And I've been watching you two. All he does when you're not looking is watching you. Remus, I wouldn't be telling you this if I wasn't entirely sure," she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Trust me."

"I do," he said, and that was the truth. Lily was the only person he trusted without a doubt. "But- what do I do now?"

"Maybe, for one, don't run away from Sirius now," she sighed like he was talking with a complete idiot. "He wanted to talk to you, but you ran like a kid. You both like each other, why don't give it a try?"

Remus wanted to say something else, but Marlene wlked out of the corner and embraced Lily's waist. She was carrying a bag full of books, and Remus thought she was just getting back from a library. He knew, because he'd read those books before.

"Lils, you need to help me with spells homework, I don't get it," Marlene said, then she smiled widely and hugged him. "Oh, hi Remus!"

Remus just nodded back at her, because the revelations about Sirius was still in his head and he wasn't thinking clearly. Marlene looked at Lily with confusion. "Is he alright?"

"He is, he's just tired," Lily lied quickly. "We just had first potions and Slughorn didn't let us breathe. Come on Marlene, I'll help you. Remus," she turned to her friend again and mantained eye contact to make sure he's listening. „I’ll be in the girls' dormitory if you need me."

Remus just nodded again, but he felt too nauseous to move.

He had never, ever admitted his feelings to anyone before. Had he even had a crush before? He wasn't sure. In forth class he really liked that one girl, Dorcas, but then he found out she's dating Marlene and his feelings disappeared. And next was Sirius. He was clueless when it comes to this stuff.

Sirius knows how to date, Remus thought with despair, he knows. All girls were always mad about Sirius, and those few queer boys in school, too. And Sirius was always so sure when it came to flirting with everybody who wanted to flirt! He knew how to talk with everyone!

Remus was openly panicking now, quickly walking towards the transfiguration class, and suddenly his eyes spotted Sirius. He was walking towards Remus in a rush, but that full grin he had on a few quarters before disappeared. Remus felt like he was about to faint. Sirius leaned on the wall and wanted until Remus came to him.

"Hi," he said, but his voice had a different tone that it always used to. He ran hands through his long hair and Remus saw eyeliner on his eyes - of course he used that thing. Remus felt immediate urge to laugh. Sirius was watching him with a smile, but it was a smile Remus had never seen before; an insecure little grin, and Sirius' eyes were wandering somewhere. He elbowed Remus. "So, wet dog, huh?"

"Shut the fuck up," Remus hid face in hands, but Sirius laughed. However, it wasn't his usual, dog-like laugh. That one was more of an uncomfortable chuckle. "That's so embarassing-"

"Yeah, it would be," Sirius nodded and took a deep breath. "if I didn't like you too, arsehole."

Remus looked at him strangely. "Wait, fuck, you do?"

And this time Sirius laughed so hard they might had heard him in the astrology tower.

 „Why are you so surprised?” Sirius asked with a honest curiosity and Remus’ cheeks got red again. He didn’t know the answer to that question, though. Sirius shrugged, Remus got a vibe he's trying to show how much he doesn't care, but from what Lily had told him, he knew it was the exact opposite.

Needles to say, they walked to the transfiguration class holding hands.

_"I think I have a boyfriend," Remus told Lily hours later in the common room and she almost shrieked out with excitement._


End file.
